Hospital-acquired illness and singer Rita MacNeil’s death /Correction

Please note an update to this story at the end – health authorities now say Rita MacNeil did not acquire the infection in the hospital, according to senior medical officials of the Cape Breton District Health Authority.

Initial reports that celebrated award-winning singer-songwriter Rita MacNeil died of “complications following” surgery did not mention that she contracted an infection in hospital after her surgery and then she slipped into a coma and died, according to a Globe and Mail article published Friday (April 26).

In the article André Picard, the paper’s health reporter wrote that the death of the singer “should make us angry.”

“The death of Ms MacNeil…should make us angry.” – André Picard

“Angry because it underscores the scourge of hospital-acquired infections; angrier still because we have missed a glorious opportunity to take a larger lesson from her death, one that is a fitting tribute to a singer who was a social activist.”

Picard goes on to write that hospital-acquired infections sicken 250,000 patients each year, and that between 8,000 and 12,000 Canadians die as a result of these infections.

“The bugs patients catch while in care are one of the leading causes of death in this country,” he writes. “They kill twice as many people as breast cancer.”

 “[these infections] kill twice as many people as breast cancer.”

In another Globe and Mail article, journalists Jason Sutherland and Nadya Repin ask whether Canada should punish hospitals for poor care.

Late Friday after these stories appeared, another Globe and Mail story was published citing medical authorities who denied that Rita MacNeil had contracted hospital-acquired illness. See here

More information:
Globe and Mail – Rita MacNeil’s death should make us angry – here
Globe and Mail – Should Canada punish hospitals for poor care? Other countries do it – here
Globe and Mail – Rita MacNeil did not have hospital-acquired infection, health officials say – here